Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On October 1, 1867, a piece of news came from the royal family of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Princess Damage of Denmark was recognized by Alexander II and the entire Tsarist Russian royal family. After several considerations, the Tsarist Russian royal family actually broke Princess Damage's approval. In an embarrassing situation, Alexander II asked his second son, Prince Nikolai Alexandrovich, to replace his dead brother and inherit his marriage to Princess Damage. At the same time, Alexander II also announced that Nikolai Alexandrovich Drovich succeeded to the position of Crown Prince.

Resurrection from the dead, miracle born. This is what is said.

If the elder brother dies, the younger brother inherits his fiancée?

This is the first time in the history of European royal families that such a situation has occurred.

This made almost everyone stunned.

When the news reached the Netherlands, both Queen Alexandra and William IV of the Netherlands had different expressions on their faces when they received the news.

Princess Damage, who was still "living" in the Netherlands, was even more surprised.

Alexandra had an expression of disbelief on her face.

"how so?"

"How could His Majesty Alexander II send such a message? This is no joke."

"What's going on with the Tsarist Empire? What will Damage do if this happens? Agreeing to it seems unreasonable. Not agreeing will offend the Tsarist Empire and damage Damage's reputation. Everyone in the Tsarist Empire is crazy. ?"

As for Princess Damage, who was involved, her eyes were confused and she seemed to have not yet reacted.

Alexandra's words made her completely lose her mind.

How did it come to this, Nikolai? You want me to go with that guy Nikolai? Thinking about his previous identity again, Damage felt embarrassed, but for a moment he was lost in thought again.

William IV calmly took in the expressions of the two people in his eyes.

I secretly sighed in my heart, the wheel of history has not changed, Alexander II did this, and Damage, the sister-in-law, was still married after her fiancé died, and was finally proposed to marry by the future father-in-law Alexander II on behalf of his second son Nicholas. .

Seeing the appearance of the two of them, he could think that in today's Danish capital, Copenhagen, his cheap father-in-law, Christian IX, would definitely not be much better.

William IV's guess was right, and now everyone in the Danish palace is in chaos.

"Father, Alexander II arbitrarily released such important information without consulting us. It is so ungentlemanly." Frederick will be engaged to Swedish Princess Louise in a few months, so the recent etiquette The lessons became more frequent, but when faced with the fact that his sister Princess Damage was repeatedly relegated to the forefront of the European royal family, she showed dissatisfaction. After all, this is not a good reputation.

The second son of Christian IX, Prince George, who just recently took Queen Victoria's third daughter, Princess Helena, as his wife, even said angrily: "The Russian Empire has always been known for its barbarism in Europe. Alexander II It’s not unexpected to do this, but it doesn’t matter to us if it’s someone else. The problem is that the other person is Damage from our family. To us, this is an insult to the Danish royal family. Father, I think we should refuse.”

When Christian IX heard this, his expression changed. He was about to say something to stop his second son's statement, but his daughter-in-law Princess Helena, who was sitting next to Prince George, said: "Yes, father, I think the Russian Empire is too much. Well, Princess Damage is beautiful and decent, and she is the top choice in Europe. It is said that our mother, Her Majesty Queen Victoria, still praised her highly? She even lamented that it was a pity that Princess Damage had a contract with the Russian Empire. Married, otherwise, she would have wanted to marry Princess Damage on behalf of my second brother."

What!

The entire Danish royal family was shocked, and even Prince George was shocked by his wife's words.

It’s true that Princess Helena’s words contain too much information.

Christian IX and others looked at Princess Helena.

Queen Victoria actually paid attention to Damage?

Queen Victoria still wants to marry Damage on behalf of her second son, Prince Alfred?

Although Prince Alfred is only the second son, Prince Edward is there before him, so it is not his turn to succeed to the throne.

However, no one would think that his weight would become too small, because, as everyone in Britain knows, he is Queen Victoria's favorite son.

Born in 1844, he started serving in the army at the age of 16 for many years. Even in 1862, he was ranked first in the heir to the Kingdom of Greece, and the Greeks recognized it. However, Queen Victoria strongly opposed it and flatly refused the possibility of letting her son inherit. In the end, it was easy. William III.

Later, the queen wanted him to inherit the Duchy of Saklincoburg in the German Confederation, but she did not expect that Prussia occupied the entire German Confederation, which changed the queen's plan.

At the Queen's birthday party in 1866, Queen Victoria even named Prince Alfred the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Elster and Earl of Kent. In the same year, Prince Alfred won a seat in the British House of Lords (similar to the Senate) and spoke on behalf of the Queen.

Now that Prince Edward is not married, Prince Alfred is still second in line to the British throne, second only to Prince Edward.

Therefore, it is understandable that the minds of Christian IX and several others are disturbed.

Princess Helena, who saw this scene, was also very proud. Her natal family was strong, so she naturally had more status and voice in her husband's family. Although Helena was often privately called "Princess" among Queen Victoria's many outstanding children, He is big-hearted and has no brains, but under the influence, it cannot be said that he has no scheming. It depends on who is on the background.

Moreover, among the queen's children, multiple camps were formed early on.

The eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, is loved by everyone. The second daughter, Princess Alice, has always been closest to Prince Edward, while the third daughter, Princess Helena, has the best relationship with Prince Alfred.

Princess Louise is a solitary traveler, and her followers are pretty much the same.

Several others are still young.

It is precisely because of this that Princess Helena told Christian IX and others about her second brother.

Prince Alfred's identity is not bad. This is the idea of ​​Christian IX and others.

However, Alexander II's public proposal was difficult for Christian IX to refuse.

At this moment, Queen Louisa next to her took out a letter and gave it to Christian IX.

"This is from Alexandra, and there are words from William on it."

Everyone couldn't help but look at Christian IX.

Alexandra's letter?

Seeing that my mother was hesitant to speak, the topic just discussed was. Take it out at this time, and no one will need to guess, and they will know that it is about this topic.

As the eldest princess, Alexandra was respected by her brothers and sisters, including Christian IX and his wife, who also valued her opinions.

What's more, the other party is now the Queen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Director-General of the International Women's Association. These identities have made Princess Helena, who was so proud just now, choose to keep a low profile.

After all, she had defeated several sisters and won the position of Queen William IV.

When several people saw this, they didn't say anything. The younger ones, Princess Tiela, who was only 13 years old, and Prince Valdemar, who was 9 years old, were even more proud of the fact that the second sister-in-law immediately stopped speaking as soon as the eldest sister became famous.

Besides, after Christian IX read the letter, his face lost a lot of hesitation and became more solemn.

Seeing everyone looking over, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Alexandra and William think it is good for Damage to marry into the Russian Empire, and Damage does not dislike Alexander II and his wife."

Russian Empire, St. Petersburg.

Alexander II solemnly took out the letter written to him by William IV again.

"The Netherlands asks the Russian Empire to take sides? Don't you know that the Russian Empire has always been unwilling to participate in direct confrontation with Western Europe?"

"However, Damage's matter can be considered a happy ending."

He had already received a response from Denmark, agreeing to the marriage between Damage and Nicholas, which left the original arrangement unchanged. Alexander II looked sharply and said: "Britain has withdrawn from the North American War. It seems that the Balkans can only be reconciled. The Caucasus can be manipulated. The Arabian Peninsula? The Middle East?"

He sighed: "Prussia and the Netherlands are going to make trouble there, but the Russian Empire can only make trouble in the Caucasus."

"The outbreak of the French Empire's invasion of the Far East was a bold move by the French Empire to reshape the geopolitical space of the Far East. The Kingdom of Siam had become a quagmire for the French Empire, and the situation around the French Empire had undergone major reversals. Since the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Europe Since the end of the war in which various countries defeated Napoleon I, the French Empire has been developing its economy, industry and military in a low-key manner in an attempt to restore its past strength. Over the past 50 years, the achievements of the French Empire in reshaping its space will be lost overnight.

The outbreak of the war between Siam and France will bring about geopolitical fission and reorganization not only in the Far East, but even spillover to Europe and the Americas.

Why do you say this? Because of the French Empire's invasion in the Far East, Napoleon III's many years of operations in Mexico were abandoned. This was one of the most significant wastes of resources. You must know that the number of casualties in the French Empire there was in the tens of thousands. .

The loss was not small, which is why Napoleon III must have wanted to achieve something in the Far East. After all, the domestic pressure was too great.

Second, because the French Empire even abandoned Mexico, Paraguay in South America had recently withdrawn from its original invasion of western Brazil. Although the confrontation between the two countries remains, Paraguay President Peros has indeed calmed down a lot.

France's resource allocation has made Paraguay weaker in South America.

As a result, South America has become a lot quieter, and the influence of France's presence has also decreased.

Third, European relations deteriorated, which cost the French Empire a heavy price. All countries began to launch various alliances against France, which put Napoleon III under great pressure. "

As the President of Leiden University in the Netherlands, Herman Van Rompuy, analyzed step by step in "European Times"